'"We will try, sahib," I replied; "but he is a dangerous beast and very crafty."
'"I have two rifles," the sahib said, laughing, "and they are also dangerous beasts."
'So we two climbed down from the tree and spoke to the beaters, who then followed us into the jungle, keeping well behind us. They must not shout, we told them, until told to do so, when we came close to the place where the tiger had roared.
'Then we moved slowly and cautiously into the jungle, looking this way and that, the sahib walking in front and I a few yards behind; and, behold, we had scarcely walked for two minutes when suddenly came three loud noises, almost simultaneously—first a terrible roar from the tiger, then the report of the sahib's rifle, then a shriek from the sahib himself and—— '
The shikari placed his hands before his eyes as though to shut out some horrible picture, and groaned aloud.
(Concluded on page [98].)
LONG LIVED.
In certain parts of the African desert, where it is too hot for any plants to grow, the ground is in places thickly covered with white snails.
In 1858, a naturalist travelling through this region collected some of the shells from a spot on which it was believed no rain had fallen for five years. These snails' shells were packed away and left untouched until the year 1862, when the naturalist, at home once more, unpacked his shells and placed them in a basin of water to be cleaned. To his amazement, a quantity of healthy living snails were found on the following morning crawling all over his study table!